CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 



119 



former were obliged to find their occupations and pleasures 

 within the women's apartments — the "Kuei," already re- 

 ferred to. 



est*** ***#** * J &** 



Travellers in Ssuch'tjan. 



The ruling spirit of the Kuei was of course the wife of 

 the master of the house, the mother of his sons, the 

 4 'director" of his daughters-in-law. (It must be understood 

 that concubines did not live in the Kuei but in a side house 

 and could only enter the women's apartments upon express 

 invitation). A short sketch of a young wife's day will perhaps 

 make the life then led in a large "chia" more vivid. 



The old-fashioned bed was like a small ante -room, it had 

 an infinite number of drawers and receptacles, and also a 

 division which held tables and chairs; a door ensured privacy 

 which was made doubly secure by two sets of curtains, one 

 within and one without. With the first grey streak of morn- 

 ing a daughter-in-law would rise and after removing her 

 sleeping clothes and adjusting her skirt, (before this she was 

 not visible to even her most devoted maid-servant) — would 

 step out into her room where the less intimate part of the 

 toilet, such as hair-dressing, etc., was performed. This 

 accomplished, and accompanied by a servant who carried tea, 

 she would go to the room of her mother-in-law and herself place 

 the tea upon a table outside the old ladies bed which was 

 built upon the same pattern as her own, with door curtains, 

 etc. Upon hearing the word of dismissal she could return to 

 her apartment where light refreshment had already been 

 prepared by the maid who had followed her from her fathers 

 house, of this she and her husband partook and then waited 



